HBO Latino to Air Two Specials Dedicated to Santana’s ‘Corazon’

Carlos Santana is preparing to celebrate his Mexican heritage on television…

HBO Latino will celebrate the legendary career of the 66-year-old Mexican American musician and guitar legend, a 10-time Grammy award winner, and his forthcoming first-ever Latin music album entitled Corazon, through a two-part event: a special called Santana: De Corazon and the airing of his mega concert and documentary Santana-Corazon: Live From Mexico, Live It To Believe It.

Carlos Santana

The Santana: De Corazon special will be broadcast in Spanish with English subtitles on Monday, April 21 at 9:30 pm ET, exclusively on HBO Latino.

The Santana-Corazon: Live from Mexico: Live It to Believe It concert and documentary will air exclusively in the U.S. on HBO Latino on Saturday, May 3, at 8:00 pm ET. It will also be simulcast in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Cited by Rolling Stone as #15 on the magazine’s list of “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time,” Santana will entertain Hispanic and mainstream audiences in HBO Latino’s airing of the once-in-a-lifetime tribute concert that took place at a sold out Arena VFG in Guadalajara, Mexico this past December.

Santana-Corazon: Live from Mexico: Live It to Believe It presented a star-studded concert to music lovers who enjoyed Santana’s electrifying sound, along with performances by musicians and friends. 

Lila Downs, Gloria Estefan, Juanes, Nina Pastori, Romeo Santos, Soledad and Diego Torres were among the Latin music stars who accompanied Santana during his performance, most of whose collaborations have been recorded on Santana’s first ever Latin Music album entitled Corazon, set for release May 6 via RCA/Sony Latin Iberia.

The Santana: De Corazon half-hour special spotlights the iconic music legend through a collection of interviews by his musical peers, fellow Santana-Corazon: Live from Mexico: Live It to Believe It concert performers, mixed with touching insights from members of his most intimate circles.

Corazon, the concert and album project brings Carlos back to Guadalajara near his birthplace, and celebrates Carlos’ love of his musical heritage, as well as showcases Carlos’ own personal influence on Latin music and on today’s generation of Latin superstars. Many genres of Latin music are represented in these collaborations including pop, rock, salsa, hip-hop, R&B, reggae, and more.

Santana Releases Cover Art for New Collaborations Album “Corazon”

Carlos Santana is demonstrating his corazon

The 66-year-old Mexican musician, heralded as one of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, has released the artwork for his latest album Corazon, which will be released on May 6.

Carlos Santana's Corazon Album

It’s the first Spanish-language disc that Santana has ever recorded, with more than a dozen Latin artists, including Pitbull, Juanes, Romeo Santos and Gloria Estefan, lending their voices to the album.

The new collaborative recording is being called a return to Santana’s Spanish-speaking childhood, having been born in the town of Autlan de Navarro in the Mexican state of Jalisco.

The colorful album cover, which shows Santana’s face with figures that appear to be Indians, was created by Boa Mistura, a Madrid-based artists’ collective that works principally on pieces of public art.

 

Corazon, produced by Lester Mendez, recalls the artist’s Hispanic roots and features the additional participation of the Fabulosos Cadillacs (Argentina), Ziggy Marley (Jamaica), Miguel (United States), Niña Pastori (Spain), Samuel Rosa de Skank (Brazil), Chocquibtown (Colombia), Lila Downs (Mexico) and Diego Torres (Argentina.

“All the artists, men and women, who have taken part bring their own light, their talent, their spirit, they want to work with me…I’ve surrounded myself with artists who see the invisible and do the impossible,” Santana told Efe in an interview in late 2013.

The album includes numbers like “La Flaca” by Jarabe de Palo, sung by Juanes, which was the first single from the album to be released from the album.

Prince Royce to Give Hispanic Heritage Month Performance at White House

Prince Royce will be celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month at the White House

The 24-year-old Dominican American singer-songwriter will join Gloria Estefan, Arturo Sandoval and other musicians to bring their Latin sounds to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue next week.

Prince Royce

The latest “In Performance at the White House” program will be taped on Monday and will showcase Latin music during Hispanic Heritage Month, which takes place from September 15-October 15.

In addition to Prince Royce, Estefan and Sandoval, the White House says Ricky Martin, Lila Downs, Raul Malo, Romeo Santos, Alejandro Sanz, Natalie Cole and Marco Antonio Solis also are expected to join President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, to help highlight a variety of styles of Latin music.

The first lady also will host a workshop for area students on the history of Latin music on Monday afternoon.

The entire program will be streamed live on WhiteHouse.gov on Monday. It will be also broadcast by PBS stations nationwide on October 8.

Downs Wins Her First-Ever Grammy Award

It’s official… Lila Downs can add “Grammy winner” to her list of accomplishments…

The 44-year-old Mexican American singer-songwriter earned her first gramophone from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences at the 55th Grammy Awards.

Lila Downs

Downs, who mixes indigenous Mexican roots music with contemporary sounds, picked up the award at a pre-Grammy telecast event in the  Best Regional Mexican Music Album (including Tejano) category.

Downs’ Pecados y Milagros won in a category often dominated by Mexican regional genres like ranchera and norteño. Besides English and Spanish, Downs sings in indigenous Mexican languages like Mixtec, Zapotec and Nahuatl, an artistic choice that underscores her political involvement in supporting native people’s rights.

But Downs wasn’t the only Hispanic artist to win a Grammy this year…

Miguel, who led the Latino field of Grammy nominees with five nods, won the first gramophone of his career in the Best R&B Song category.

The 27-year-old half-Mexican American singer-songwriter picked up the award for his hit single “Adorn,” which dominated the Billboard charts last year.

Juanes, who performed during  Sunday night’s show, won the award for Best Latin Pop Album for his most recent work, MTV Unplugged Deluxe Edition. It’s the latest award for the 40-year-old Colombian singer’s highly acclaimed project, which won the Latin Grammy for Album of the Year last November. It’s the second Grammy of Juanes’ career.

Esperanza Spalding, who beat Justin Bieber for Best New Artist at the 53rd Grammy Awards, won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album for her sophomore project Radio Music Society. She also won in the Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) category for “City of Roses” with Thara Memory. It’s the second and third Grammy awards for the 28-year-old part-Mexican singer, who will be starring in the remake of A Star is Born.

Other Latino winners include Quetzal’s Imaginaries for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album and Marlow Rosado y La Riqueña’s Retro for Best Tropical Latin Album.

“Hecho En México” Documentary Opens in Los Angeles

It could be called “From México with Love”…

Duncan Bridgeman’s latest film, Hecho En México, opened this weekend in Los Angeles, the U.S. market with the largest Mexican-American population.

Hecho en Mexico

The documentary, composed of original songs and insights from the most iconic artists and performers of contemporary Mexico, captures the rich diversity of Mexican geography, art, music and culture.

Hecho En México features appearances by noted Mexican artists and musicians like Diego Luna, Alejandro Fernandez, Carla Morrison, Chavela Vargas, Lila Downs, Natalia Lafourcade, Julieta Venegas and Gloria Trevi.

It’s described as a rare look at the country’s real identity, and an unparalleled celebration of what it truly means to be “Hecho en Mexico.”

The documentary “spans across genres of Mexican music and it’s something that has been well-received outside Mexican culture itself,” says Pantelion Films’ Edward Allen.

The film has already performed strongly in Mexico, where it was released two months ago.

“To reach the Latino audience [in the United States], we’ve been going through Univision and the Latin Grammys, which is one of [the network’s] biggest shows,” said Allen. “Artist Lila Downs performed at the show that’s also in the documentary and re-created the piece visually. That was our kickoff in the U.S. and we’ve been supporting the release via Univision both locally and nationally.”

Following this weekend’s opening in Los Angeles, Hecho En México will head to 15-20 additional cities in the coming weeks.

Downs Recognized for Being a Voice Mexico’s Indigenous People

Throughout her career, Lila Downs has incorporated indigenous Mexican influences into her music… And now she’s being recognized for being a voice for the country’s indigenous population.

The 44-year-old Mexican singer/songwriter, who has recorded songs in indigenous languages like Mixtec, Zapotec, Mayan, Nahuatl and P’urhépecha, has been honored by the organization Mano a Mano: Mexican Culture Without Borders for her work spreading awareness about indigenous people.

Lila Downs

Downs, who divides her time between New York and her native Mexico, accepted the Yoloxochitl Award from last year’s recipient, chef Zarela Martinez, who helped pioneer Mexican cuisine in the Big Apple.

Being honored by her compatriots “is an opportunity to make known that a very great effort is being made to educate and share cultural spaces that exist for the Mexican community,” the Latin Grammy-winning artist told Efe.

After picking up her award, Downs entertained the audience by performing several of her songs.

Every year, Mano a Mano honors a person “who represents who we are,” the organization’s executive director, said Juan Carlos Aguirre.

“Lila represents a very important segment of Mexico, with all its cultural diversity,” he said.

Born in southern Mexico to an Anglo-American father and a Mixtec Indian mother, Downs fuses indigenous and traditional music with genres such as folk, blues, jazz, hip hop and rock.

She is currently touring the United States to showcase her latest album, Pecados y milagros.